Professor's legacy is written by others

By Doug Ancey

Terry Beers is the current chair of the English department here at Santa Clara. What defines his career however, is not only his position in the department, but his work with the California Legacy Project.

The CLP is a partnership formed between Santa Clara and Heyday Books, which began in the spring of 2000.

It is designed to raise public awareness and appreciation for California's cultural legacy as well as encourage faculty and students in their creative and scholarly interest in Californian culture. The organization demonstrates the contemporary relevance of California's multicultural literary and historical legacy.

The project takes in original works from California writers and reprints them with minimal editing to the story.

Some of the notable authors featured by the project include Jack London, Toshio Mori, and Ambrose Bierce.

Beers is the current director and series editor of the CLP, and has been teaching at Santa Clara University since 1986.

A native of southern California, Beers has a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. He explains that it was his work as an undergraduate that spurred his interest and eventual career in California literature.

"In one of my undergraduate literature classes I was introduced to the poet Robinson Jeffers, a relatively unknown California poet. His poetry really knocked me over and led to me reading other works by California writers, specifically natural history writing, where the writers stress connecting with the natural world," said Beers.

Beers took his love of California writers with him through his graduate work, and into his ensuing career at Santa Clara and with the CLP.

A great example of what the CLP does can be seen in the book "Death Valley in '49" by William Lewis Manly, a story about pioneers traveling to California in 1849, who blundered into Death Valley after turning south from the Rocky Mountains. The original story looked like blacksmiths had printed it, with numerous mistakes throughout the book. Later versions of the book had chapters moved around or taken out altogether.

What the CLP has done is taken the original story, fixed any editorial mistakes, but left the chapters and every other part of the story in their original order.

"It's the book that I am most proud of and in my opinion, is the best edition ever printed," said Beers.

Currently the CLP is part of a coalition working on a grant proposal for the National Endowment for the Arts "Big Read Project," which is a national initiative designed to revitalize the role of literature in American popular culture.

The read proposed by the CLP focuses on Jack London's book "The Call of the Wild," which actually begins in Santa Clara.

If the CLP gets the grant, they plan on bringing in a sled dog historian from British Columbia.

"I'm very proud of the CLP on this project because the Santa Clara Library saw us as a resource," Beers said.

The project will work in part with various museums around Santa Clara, as well as the Santa Clara Historical Society.

Alongside on campus readings and seminars, Beers and the CLP are using outside methods to promote and bring awareness to the program. An experienced dogsledder himself, Beers explained how he plans on bringing down a dogsled team from Vancouver for a seminar on the works of Jack London. Readings and events are also being planned for various museums and historical sites in Santa Clara and the surrounding area.

Beers says that the CLP is "a way for Santa Clara University to develop a presence in the publishing world, as we don't have our own press like Stanford does."

The CLP serves as a nonprofit publishing venture with Heyday Books. In order to do this, Beers explained that they are embracing technology in order to preserve history and culture while staying contemporary and modern. This means using different forms of media like radio and the Internet to promote California literature.

Beers is the host of "Your California Legacy," a radio anthology on KAZU Public Radio International. The process is an adaptation that began with print, evolved into radio, and is now moving into digital media. Beers explains, "We are still telling stories. Narrative is something that I believe people enjoy reading about or listening to."

Contact Doug Ancey at dancey@scu.edu or (408) 554-4546.